NPR Blog.........( blog 4)

 I do not believe that this negatively impacts curriculum and instruction.  I think that it isn't the role or responsibility of administrators or teachers to "strip search" students. I believe that if a search needs to be done involving the removal of clothing than it needs to be performed by law enforcement.  I do believe that "clothed" searches need to be performed. We have had a few school-wide searches lately and more coming. The students come in and have a metal detector waved over their body  and their bags are checked. The boys are patted down by a male teacher. However, not in any area that would be deemed inappropriate. We have had some major gang activity lately and one student was suspected to have a gun. The campus cop searched him and it didn't turn up anything.  We have had six graders shooting a stolen gun outside their homes who are members of this new gang. This is all spreading like wildfire and increasing in severity. With the recent anniversary of Columbine we are reminded of the necessity to stay alert. Although these searches are not totally preventative, they may deter students from bringing things to school. Prevention is always better than a cure. It is a great way to be proactive rather than reactive and show that we do not tolerate students bringing weapons or drugs to school. I feel that these types of searches should be conducted at random and are totally apporopriate. I am not at all concerned about the loss of instructional time because I feel that safety is crucial. From a privacy standpoint I do object to the strip search that was outlined in NPR. If it was conducted as the girl claims than it was totally out of line. Anything involving removal of clothing or searching more private areas should be performed by same-sex, law enforcement or specially trained person and not a teacher or school administrator. In light of recent searches and the increasing gang problem at my school this is an interesting subject to explore further and the laws associated with it. 

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[DrE]

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